Severin Roesen

Severin Roesen, one of many German refugees from the 1848 peasant revolutions in Europe, brought to the United States high standards of craftsmanship. His work was modeled after seventeenth- and early-eighteenth-century Dutch painting. His hyper-real still lifes graced many dining rooms in the homes of collectors who recognized his exceptional skill. These paintings were seen as representing nature's abundance and the sanctity of the New World. Roesen often utilized the tendrils of grape foliage to form his ornate signature.

Amy Pastan Young America: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum (New York and Washington, D.C.: Watson-Guptill Publications, in cooperation with the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2000)